Vol. X. No. 23S. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



191 



EXPERIMENTS ON THE STORAGE OF 



ONIONS. 



The following article, describing experiments in 

 storing onions, has been received from the Superintend- 

 ent ot Agriculture for the Leeward Islands. It deals 

 with work that has been performed by Mr. T. Jackson, 

 Curator of the Botanic Station, Antigua: — 



During the year 1910, certpin experiments were carried 

 out at the Experiment Station, Antigua, on the storage of 

 onions. 



The onion industry occupies a position of some impor- 

 tance in Antigua, and, to a less extent, thioiighout tlie whole 

 of the Leeward Islands, at the present time, and one of the 

 (ihief difficulties with which cultivators have to contend is 

 that the product rapidly deteriorates in st(jrage; in conse- 

 quence of this, it is impossible to store onions so that they 

 may be available for disposal locally at periods of the jear 

 during which the crop is not in .season, and, moreover, it also 

 seriously handicaps producers, inasmuch as it renders it im- 

 possible to raise the crop from sets (i.e., small onion bulbs) — 

 a form of cultivation which has been productive of excellent 

 results in other parts of the world where onions are grown. 



Accordingly, a series of experiments was undertaken, at 

 the suggestion of the Imperial Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture, with a view to ascertaining if it might be possible 

 to retard the proce.sses of bacterial decomposition, which 

 usually ensue when onions are stored for any length of time 

 under the conditions obtaining in tropical climates. 



As usually imported into the West Indies from other 

 parts of the world, onions are attached together in the form 

 of long strings, and it was thought that when the onions are 

 connected in this way and suspended from the roof, the freer 

 circulation of air thus caused might materially assist in 

 preserving the bulbs. It was first thought that it might be 

 the case that treatment with various forms of preservative 

 agencies would assist to maintain them in a sound condition. 

 Accordingly, experiments were undertaken with two .sets of 

 onions, A and B: in the A series of experiments, the bulbs 

 were stored in thin layers on shelves; in the B series, they 

 were strung together after the fashion of the Madeira produce, 

 and suspended from the roof. In both the A and B series 

 bulbs free from disease were subjected to six different 

 forms of treatment: in each case 12 onions were utilized. 

 The various forms of treatment received liy the bulbs are 

 given below: — 



1. Control, 12 onions. No treatment. 



2. 12 onions dusted with slaked lime. 



.3. 12 onions dusted with flowers of sulphur. 



4. 12 onions treated with carbon dioxide gas. 



5. 12 onions treated with Bordeaux mixture. 



6. 12 onions treated with 1 in 1,000 corrosive sublimate. 



7. 12 onions treated with sulphur dioxide gas. 



The room in which the onions were stored was a wooden 

 building with a boarded floor and galvanized roof; three sides 

 of the room were secured with slats of wood arranged in 

 the manner of jalousies, the room itself measured about 

 15 feet X 12 feet; the doors and partitions did not fit very 

 closely, and there was an open space of about 1 inch under 

 one edge of the roof. It will thus be seen that the condi- 

 tions of storage were caljjulated to secure gnod ventilation. 



A record was made each, month of the number of bulbs that 

 decayed in each experiment; in all cases the decay took place 

 from the outside. The following table summarizes the record, 



9 9 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 



by giving the number of decayed bulbs on the dates of exam- 

 ination, in the case of both the series A (onions on shelves) 

 and B (onions strung and hung): — 



April 27. June 21. .July 23. Aug. 20. Sept. 18. Oct. 27. 



A. B. A. B. A. B. A. B. A. B. A. B. 



Control 2 3 4 3 .5 7 S 8 9 10 



Lime 00 21 35 59 7 9 10 9 



Sulphur 2 3 2 5 5 G 5 6 7 8 



C-arbon | 12 10 12 10 12 10 12 10 12 12 



dioxide J 



Bordeaux) .-, 



mixture J 



Corrosive 1 ^ .-, ^ ^ 3 3 10 7 10 8 12 12 



sublimatej 



Sulphurj Q Q ^ ^ 2 2 12 11 12 12 13 12 

 dioxide j 



Examination of the results shows that none of the 

 methods of treatment have materially affected the rate of 

 decay of the bulbs, with the possible exception of the second, 

 ill which the bulbs were dusted with flowers of sulphur; here, 

 some .slight Iieneficial action appears to have resulted. No 

 advantage seems to have been gained by stringing the onions 

 together. No observations were made after the montl» of 

 October, when all the onions were bad, with the exception of 

 two treated with lime, one from the control, and one from 

 those treated with sulphur; the four good onions were planted 

 in November 1910 and grew. 



To sum up the results of this investigation, it would 

 appear that none of the methods of treatment tried in the 

 course of the experiments possesses any marked power of 

 retarding the decay of the bulbs under ordinary conditions 

 of storage. It would seem likely that the agencies respon- 

 sible for their deterioration are )iormally present in the 

 atmosphere; sterilization of the bulbs and preservation of 

 them from access of air would proliably assist them to retain 

 their condition unchanged, but a method yet remains to be 

 devised for carrying this into effect on a commercially practi- 

 cable scale. 



The Production of Cotton Goods in Great 



Britain. — The statistical tables recently published relating 

 to British self-governing Dominions, Crown Colonies, 

 Possessions, and Protectorates, give .some interesting figures 

 relating to the trade in cotton goods between the United 

 Kingdom and Great Britain. Out of a total trade valued at 

 £36,671,000, foreign countries supplied only £4,241,000. 

 Last year the increase in the value of Lancashire exports was 

 £12,471,000, and as regards quantity alone £2,981,000, the 

 average increa.se in the ten years up to 1909 being £2,400,000. 

 Of cotton waste we send to the colonies nine times as much. 

 as foreign countries; of yarn, twist, and thread nearly eight 

 times: of piece goods over twelve times; of miscellaneous 

 goods two and a half times: and of unclassified goods nearly 

 two and a half times. Britain sends to the colonies ne'arly 

 thirty-nine times as much plain piece goods as foreign coun- 

 tries do, but only seven times as much dyed and pripted 

 piece goods. British predominance is greatest in the East 

 Indies, the African possessions (outside South Africa), Aus- 

 tralia, New Zealand, and Newfoundland. It is less in South 

 Africa and the West Indies, where the total trade is small, 

 and least of all in Canada, where the LTnited States are such 

 formidafile competitors, {-fouriml of the Royal Society of Arts, 

 April?, 1911, p. 535.) 



